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Astronomy
, Sweden | length = 1:00:42 | label = Label: (Europe, North America) (Japan) | producer = Patrik J., Olof Mörck, Henrik Udd }} Astronomy is the fifth released album (fourth full-length) by Dragonland. While Dragonland's third album, Starfall, focused heavily on keyboards and had a more upbeat lyrical tone, according to Olof Mörck, Astronomy is "gloomier, more stygian and packed with crunching guitars; both furiously fast and bone-grindingly heavy." Track Listing :*1."Supernova" – 5:09 (Featuring Elize Ryd of Amaranthe) :*2."Cassiopeia" – 4:06 (Featuring Elize Ryd of Amaranthe)(Solo by Marios Ilipoulos of Nightrage) :*3."Contact" – 4:25 :*4."Astronomy" – 3:20 (Featuring Jake E of Dreamland/Amaranthe) :*5."Antimatter" – 3:00 (Featuring Jimmie Strimmel of Nightrage/Dead by April) :*6."The Book of Shadows Part IV: The Scrolls of Geometria Divina" – 4:04 :*7."Beethoven's Nightmare" – 6:11 :*8."Too Late for Sorrow" – 3:36 (Featuring Elize Ryd of Amaranthe & Jake E of Dreamland/Amaranthe) :*9."Direction: Perfection" – 4:29 (Featuring Jimmie Strimmel of Nightrage/Dead by April) :*10."The Old House on the Hill Chapter I: A Death in the Family" – 4:30 :*11."The Old House on the Hill Chapter II: The Thing in the Cellar" – 3:08 :*12."The Old House on the Hill Chapter III: The Ring of Edward Waldon" – 6:18 :*13."Intuition" ( Cover) – 4:15 - Japanese Bonus Track :*14."The Last Word" – 4:12 - Japanese Bonus Track Lyrical References In a February 2007 interview with "Metal Reviews", Olof Mörck went into details about some of musical and lyrical influences in Astronomy: :*Olof and Elias Holmlid were inspired to write the "The Old House on the Hill" trilogy by listening to film scores, and they attributed this trilogy to Danny Elfman, probably most famously known for his Tim Burton's Batman theme and the The Simpsons theme. Unlike the "The Book of Shadows" trilogy from the Starfall album which had the story written after the music was composed, the "The Old House on the Hill" trilogy's story was written by Olof, and it took about six months to get the song fully fleshed out and recorded. :*"Too Late for Sorrow" is a tribute to , known for his 1986 Top Gun movie score and the "Axel F" electronic theme for Beverly Hills Cop. As suggested with the album title, many of the songs on the album are based around space subjects: :*The opening track, "Supernova" sings about the beauty of an exploding star, or " " :*The next track, "Cassiopeia" tells the tale of , wife of of the mythological Phoenician realm of Ethiopia, who claimed that both her and her daughter Andromeda were more beautiful than all the Nereids, the nymph-daughters of the sea god Nereus. To avoid the God's wrath, she sacrificed her daughter Andromeda by chaining her to a rock near the water's edge, but the Greek hero saved Andromeda, soon becoming her husband. Poseidon decided that Cassiopeia didn't deserve to escape punishment for her vainness, so he put her in the heavens as a constellation for all eternity. :*The third track, "Contact" is about with aliens who turn out to be conquerors instead of saviors and destroy mankind. :*The title track "Astronomy" deals with the power of . :*The fifth track, "Antimatter" deals with the exotic properties and mystery of . Another point of interest is the seventh track, "Beethoven's Nightmare" which intertwines heavy guitar riffs and classical piano melodies to tell the story of Beethoven writing a symphony about a tragedy that is consuming his life, while Beethoven laments about being deaf and wishing he could hear a sound "that could open my mind". Personnel :*Jonas Heidgert - vocals (Additional drums on track 7) :*Olof Mörck - guitars (Additional keyboards on tracks 11 & 12, whispers on track 9, story on tracks 6, 10, 11 & 12) :*Nicklas Magnusson - guitars :*Christer Pedersen - bass :*Elias Holmlid - keyboards, synthesizers (Additional drums on track 11, all drums on track 12, tambourine and shaker on track 8) :*Jesse Lindskog - drums Guest Musicians :*Elise Ryd - female vocals :*Jimmy Strimmell of Dead By April - growl vocals on "Antimatter" and "Direction: Perfection" :*Marios Iliopoulos of Nightrage - guitar solo on "Cassiopeia" :*Nils-Arne Holmlid - Intro Speech on track 1 Credits :*Mixed by: Fredrik Nordström, Patrik J. :*Engineered by: Patrik J., Henrik Udd :*Mastered by: Peter In de Betou at Tailor Maid Production :*Cover Art by: Niklas Sundin of Dark Tranquillity :*Band Photos by: Olle Carlsson